Smorgasbord Bookshelf – New Book on the Shelves -#Pre-order August 25th – #Fantasy – The Necromancer’s Daughter by D.Wallace Peach

Delighted to share the news of the latest release by D.Wallace Peach the much anticipated The Necromancer’s Daughter available on pre-order for just another two days until August 25th.

About the book

A healer with the talent to unravel death. A stillborn child brought to life. A father lusting for vengeance. And a son torn between justice, faith, and love. Caught in a chase spanning kingdoms, each must decide the nature of good and evil, the lengths they will go to survive, and what they are willing to lose.

A healer and dabbler in the dark arts of life and death, Barus is as gnarled as an ancient tree. Forgotten in the chaos of the dying queen’s chamber, he spirits away her stillborn infant and in a hovel at the meadow’s edge, breathes life into the wisp of a child. He names her Aster for the lea’s white flowers. Raised as his daughter, she, too, learns to heal death.

Denied a living heir, the widowed king spies from a distance. But he heeds the claims of the fiery Vicar of the Red Order—in the eyes of the Blessed One, Aster is an abomination, and to embrace the evil of resurrection will doom his rule.

As the king’s life nears its end, he defies the vicar’s warning and summons the necromancer’s daughter. For his boldness, he falls to an assassin’s blade. Armed with righteousness and iron-clad conviction, the Order’s brothers ride into the leas to cleanse the land of evil.

To save her father’s life, Aster leads them beyond Verdane’s wall into the Forest of Silvern Cats, a wilderness of dragons and barbarian tribes. Unprepared for a world rife with danger and unchecked power, a world divided by those who practice magic and those who hunt them, she must choose whether to trust the one man offering her aid, the one man most likely to betray her—her enemy’s son.

~*~
From best-selling fantasy author D. Wallace Peach comes a retelling of the legend of Kwan-yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Set in a winter world of dragons, intrigue, and magic, The Necromancer’s Daughter is a story about duty, defiance, cruelty, and sacrifice— an epic tale of compassion and deep abiding love where good and evil aren’t what they seem.

Head over to pre-order the book for August 25th: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK

A selection of other books by D.Wallace Peach

One of the recent reviews for The Ferryman and the Sea Witch

MercurySeven 5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional nautical fantasy adventure  Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 June 2022

Dark fantasy meets nautical action-adventure in D. Wallace Peach’s lyrical seaborne epic that features some of the best writing I’ve ever seen from an indie author. Callum is the eponymous Ferryman, the only ship’s captain permitted to cross the Deep, the sea witch’s perilous domain, after her daughter was killed in a fishing net. Only a boy at the time, Callum saved her other daughter, and to repay his kindness, the sea witch offered him a bargain: his life for his service. He can never set foot on land, and until the kingdom of Brid Clarion pays its debt in royal blood, he must gift the sea witch a human sacrifice whenever he crosses the Deep.

The warring nations of Brid Clarion and Haf Killick couldn’t be more different. The former is more of a traditional land-based coastal kingdom complete with castle palace, sandy island beaches, and farmland. Haf Killick, meanwhile, is a fascinating creation on the other side of the Deep: a huge flotilla city consisting of old hulks lashed and chained together. Its ruthless queen is barely keeping it afloat, so she resorts to desperate measures when the time comes for an exchange of royal hostages. Callum finds himself in the middle of a complex web of intrigue, deception and buried secrets, some of which will affect his fate in profound ways.

It wouldn’t be fair to spoil any of the plot twists, and there are many. The story begins with a stunning, dramatic prologue, and rarely lets up. Characters are strong and have very believable arcs. Ms. Peach’s world-building is astonishing. She’s mastered the nautical vernacular, and manages to layer in fantasy elements that feel organic, as well as evoking fear and wonder. The merrow, of which the sea witch is the queen, are more like the sirens of The Odyssey than anything remotely Disney. They’re seductive and dangerous, but also, in their own way, as complicated as the human characters.

The writing throughout is arresting. Ms. Peach’s vivid, often poetic style paints pictures in the mind’s eye and excites the senses. There’s a rare descriptive power at work here, but it doesn’t slow the pace. She’s brilliant at action and delves deep into the characters’ emotions. It’s a pretty dark tale for the most part, but I found it riveting and unpredictable.

I’m not an avid fantasy reader, but I was intrigued by the nautical mythology hinted at in the title. It turned out far better than I could have expected. It’s also worth taking a moment to realise how much skill goes into writing something like The Ferryman and the Sea Witch. There’s nothing pedestrian about it at all. I enjoyed it so much I bought the paperback as well. 

D. Wallace Peach, Buy: Amazon US – And : Amazon UK – Follow Diana: Goodreads – blog: Myths of the Mirror – Twitter: @Dwallacepeach

About Diana Wallace Peach

A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked.

In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.

Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books… Sally.